Succession
by Proper Prose
Summary: Shinji's Servant, Rider, lays him to rest for the night. AU


Succession

With a pained groan, Shinji Matou staggered into his dorm room. It was empty and suddenly he was glad that his roommate's veritable harem had drawn him away for the night. The lucky idiot that he was, of course Shirou did not realize what was in front of him.

Oblivious moron. But karma would come next morning when there was no breakfast to be had. No way he was cooking with how he was feeling recently. However...

_At least one of us is going to enjoy themselves tonight. _Shinji thought, hissing as he felt the worms resettling throughout his body. It was quite the annoyance, he doubted he would be sleeping much, but it would be worth in the end. He had spent his whole life preparing for this, to be the heir of the Matou. His father and uncle Kariya had been disappointments, but he would make grandfather proud. He had been chosen.

There was a terrible spasm in his leg and Shinji tripped on thin air. Immediately Rider materialized from astral form and caught him with his long, strong arms. With the strength the Servant possessed it was easy right the boy back onto his feet and steady him. Made only a tad awkward by the fact that said Servant was at least three feet taller than Shinji. He had to curl his chin into his neck to avoid scraping his head.

More than once he made it known how he despised the low ceiling.

"Are you alright, Master?" Rider asked, even though the answer was obvious.

"Just help me to my bed."

What he did not expect was for Rider to pick him up bridal style and carry him to his bedroom. The sheer indignity! … Though he supposed it was nice not to have to exhaust himself hobbling there. He tried his best to hide it from the others, a magus could not show such weakness after all, but everything was so hard nowadays.

Sometimes it even hurt to breathe.

The ways of magi were sometimes strange. But in order to get something, something else has to be given. Just a bit a suffering and Shinji would achieve the fate laid out for him at birth.

Rider laid him down in his bed gently, as if he were a fragile doll. Shinji did not have the strength of will to criticize him at the moment. Once that was done, the Servant sat down in a chair by the bed and reclined the best he could. It was, like many things in this modern time, awkward. Rider resisted the urge to break it. He was meant to sit on thrones, not these wooden toothpicks the school dormitories tried to pass off as adequate seating.

The chair had not been built for one with his size and frame in mind. Thankfully it lack arm rests, they would just press into his sides otherwise, but that left him to fold his arms across his chest or else let them rest on his knees. His legs were not in the best position either, though he knew that he would not fall from the chair... no matter how ill sized.

Rider looked down at his Master, who had yet to fall asleep. He most likely would not this night. The poor boy was in complete denial about the havoc these worms of his grandfather were doing to his body, but Shinji assured him that this was the Matou way. Perhaps there was something he was missing. Modern magecraft was quite strange.

The boy would need to dye his hair again soon. More white was showing at the roots than Shinji would have preferred.

Still, the boy was his master and he would stand by him. Perhaps he saw too much of himself in Shinji, but he was pleased that it seemed his Master put his all into the pursuit of his dream. He struggled to attain what many magi to for granted.

Matou did not simply inherit, they suffered first.

Better than they path of treachery, he supposed.

Shinj stirred and let out a small chuckle, thinking back on the events of the past few days. "Well, this week was a disaster, wasn't it?"

"Agreed." Rider replied. A string of losses and humiliations that Shinji had given him hell for, even though they had been outmatched from the start. His mood had gotten better the past two days. Sticking to smaller targets had proven much more effective. He had even displayed his Noble Phantasm! Their partnership had even been affirmed by his Master calling him by his preferred name! Then came the incident earlier that day…

As if he had read his mind, Shinji growled. "Just what the hell was uncle Kariya thinking? He could have killed me with that stunt of his!"

Kariya Matou, Shinji's uncle, was a mystery to Rider. His master did not seem to know much about him either, since he had abandoned the family before his birth. But one thing Rider did know was that he did not want to fight that Servant of his, that Black Knight.

As ashamed as he was to admit it, Rider was terrified of that Servant. Perhaps as much as he was of the King of Conquerors. Just thinking of the carnage unleashed, it made him tremble. He had no doubt that if not for the intervention of Shirou and Saber, then he and his Master would surely be dead.

If they were to encounter that Servant in battle again, then damn Shinji's orders or any Command Seals! He would grab the boy and run. A straight rush to the school. Even Kariya would not be so bold as to attack such a fortress.

He hoped.

"You should rest."

"We both know that's not going to happen."

Shinji sighed. Perhaps he could ask Dr. Roman to prescribe some sleeping pills and painkillers, but the secrets of a magus are in their body as much as they are in the mind or any book. The magic of the Matou was held even more guarded than most. He knew grandfather would not approve of an outsider poking around his body and he did not trust the doctor.

Kariya had mentioned that Chaldea was doing human experimentation. Were he and his classmates test subjects? If so, then he had to protect the Matou magecraft at all costs. Was he not heir after all? It was just another duty his grandfather expected of him.

He would show them all. He would prove that he was worthy of the Matou name.

He would succeed.

Shinji attempted to shift his body into a more comfortable position, failed and then settled in for a long -painful- night.

* * *

Chaldea Masters Course License

Student: Shinji Matou

Age: 17

Original Residence: Fuyuki City, Japan

(Note: Regarding the discrepancies in medical data, I strongly recommend further investigation into Matou/Makiri family and similar magecraft practices.)

Servant: Rider

True Name: Bessus (Artaxerxes V)

Origin: Persia

Noble Phantasm(s):

Golden Binding Chains

Artaxerxes Death Cart

(Note: Generally well behaved, but please remind the faculty, staff and students not use the name Artaxerxes to mock him. We DO NOT need another battle inside the academy. Our budget, while large, can only take so much.)


End file.
